Shower Scenes And Chest Reveals Are BS!

General Discussion
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Yeah, I’m pretty crabby today, because I think all the guy shower scenes and chest reveals in dramas are total BS !! If it were a woman, viewers would flip their wig, even if she had a bra. With guys it’s more than OK. Double standards, man, double standards.

Since I started this, there should be a movement for how men are treated too. It’s not just the women who suffer, you know. My female colleagues at school were mean and nasty and abusive like you wouldn’t imagine. But !! I was a male, apparently, and I couldn’t say anything. Again, this is total BS. No, I’m not a guy or woman or anything. I like to consider myself a polite and educated individual. It shouldn’t matter what’s in your pants anyway.

All in all, I believe there should be a standard for what is done and shown. :expressionless::fearful::weary:

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I agree, showing mens chest, may be awesome to some, but yes what about the women baring the chest??

theres another pet peeve that gets me, faces being slapped and they stand there & take it. well sorry, I would haul off and give them a harder slap and walk away, be it man or woman! it riles me when I see this.

its vicious! be it a man hitting a woman, woman hitting a man, man hitting a man, woman hitting a woman. (scent of a woman) was one of my moments!

theres no need for people slapping people!! no matter the reason violance & brutality, bullying(boys over flowers, heirs, )

these may have been good dramas, but why bullying? ps, I did like these dramas, just gritted my teeth through the stuff.

yeah theres so many more, what about the drinking, again pet peeves, ho how about the table manners, stuffing themselves with those noodles, the passing gas, and using the bathrooms, privacy is a key word here. and some think its funny! so I agree with you. now on to other things:

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You will discover a thread for each of those objections here on Viki… Since you mentioned other things, I’m glad you’re enjoying Mr. Sunshine. Yes, the waiting is grueling.

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I agree that Korean male stars are treated like sex objects, and the shower scenes are gratuitous, just to show their muscled bodies. I have complained about that in the past - there must be a post here hidden somewhere.
BUT
A man’s bare chest and a woman’s bare chest don’t have the same impact in our societies. For some reason, women’s breasts are considered something sexually arousing. Even the law recognizes this. If you are a man and you are bare-chested in your lawn, in full public view from the street, you won’t get arrested. If you are a woman and go topless in public view, you will be fined for indecent exposure. Same on the beach. If you are a woman, you can bathe topless only in certain beaches, whereas men are supposed to wear a swimming suit only on their lower parts. Same in advertisements.

So, it’s not exactly the same thing. I would say that a bare-chested man is probably the equivalent of a woman wearing a bra. It enduces thoughts, but it is not blatantly erotic per se.

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I have to agree with Irmar, men’s and women’s bare chest is really not the same thing culturologically speaking.

Let’s compare for example men’s shower scenes with something like a tight t-shirt or a cleavage on a woman. Then I don’t see or hear any men around me complaining about that either. The women are considered attractive and bring as much judgement upon themselves as a bare-chested man splashed with water.

Another aspect we should consider is that cultures are very different, and even people within a certain culture/society can disagree tremendously. The same scene in a movie (not necessarily a shower scene, but let’s say a kiss scene) may be considered too sexual in one culture, or too prude and unrealistic in another culture, not to mention that two neighbours watching it may have a completely different take on it. I am also aware that my opinion of a woman in mid 30-ies is quite different from an average 18-yo’s opinion in my country.

Taking all of that into account, can we really say that something like a shower scene is definitely right or definitely wrong? And is it always completely inappropriate? In the (better, high quality) movies a shower is often a symbol of emotional nakedness. Place where all your defence mechanisms drop and you are left alone to deal with your crap.

I wrote too much, I’m going to stop here. But hopefully I gave some food for thought.

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good “food for thought!” I like these “younguns” show their buff, but I think some do go overboard, be it guy or girl

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-Showing some parts of our body, nudity or sexual connotation or kind of “erotic” stuff always sell well compared to appropriateness.

On recent song clips, “shocking” visual would mark more people than the song itself (no need to sing well, letting imagination wanders around visual) and that would mark people to make the buzz needed.
Like on Youtube Dramafever previews, when the preview pic is a topless guy or a kiss, you’ll see the difference in thousands, millions views, people would click (mostly female).


-Worldwide, there’s a trivialization of nudity. The way I see it, international standards have changed compared to 10 years back, in Korea too for better or for worst (see Korean clips nowadays, you see a lot of flesh, innuendos).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmw8f6tETJ4


-After, it depends on your own standard, feeling with nudity/appropriateness. Like if it’s BS for you, is it the same for others or the majority? I think there’s a part of subjectivity here. It depends on the eyes of the beholder.

Watching a woman with a bra on a screen won’t make me feel somewhat wow, because of all these clips, it’s becoming “normal” (like before, showing your ankle was really erotic for a man or touching hands without gloves was really an intimate move, it has changed now, isn’t it the same with bras and topless?).
But seeing in real a woman without a bra, it would be another story, because behind a screen, it seems like it’s not real, so it’s not happening in your space.


-There’s a topic on this forum “Mature dramas”. What does mature mean for some viewers? Need to see more flesh, more action, bolder, more sexual connotation? More seduction?
Many participated on this topic because many may have felt the same way (in which way?) and if some dramas evolve like this & more, isn’t it the answer to what this type of audience wanted? And until which extent it would evolve?

-Are we talking about “cliches” now? XD I kinda got this feeling with the shower scene. Most females like this type of cliches XD Like there are some love cliches and dramas made these types of scenes become cliches. When I read comments, the reaction towards these types of cliches are really enthusiastic XD

-I wonder if there’s not some “hormonal” thing in this XD Like our brain and body react to another body or signals/hormones that this other body is generating.

-Plus, the Korean society now has a particular view on beauty. Showing flesh, abs, perfect toned body, men with lipsticks or bronzers might remind people of beauty (standards of beauty), sexiness. While watching Korean vloggers, dramas, clips, Kbeauty that made it on Sephora, I feel that their society really cares about that, vibes like looks are really really important for Koreans. Beauty in the appearance. I’m not really surprised if they want to show these perfect toned bodies like they want to show men with lipsticks, it’s like glorification of flawless appearance.

-I’m not for showing topless guys every second in a drama or trying to defend topless & shower scenes. There’s no difference for me.
Not really related to dramas, but in general:
I find some beauty in the human body.

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totally right. sex sells…I find some beauty in the human body. Gods creation is all I will say, and I know He put modesty in his word,

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That’s the thing I’m wondering, I don’t know.
Because when Adam and Eve were created by God, they were nude.
Then the snake tempted Eve, Eve tempted Adam and they became aware of Good/Bad, their nakedness and wore some leaves to hide their body, out of shame.
God decided to expel them from Heavens because they didn’t listen to him (was it like a kind of punishment? I’m not sure anymore) and they went to Earth.

So it’s the great question…

But apart from religion, I wear clothes to go outside XD No, what I’m saying by “a body is beautiful” = the way it grows (I’m watching my baby nephew growing and he’s becoming conscious of his body), the way it’s connected to our brain/ our soul, how it becomes old, how it moves, how you can train it and shape it, how it can be so fragile and so strong, hands of someone, eyes, hair feeling, skin touch, perfume… A body is really precious too and I don’t always remember it everyday, until it suffers!

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I agree with yoiu, “art is in the eye of the beholder” we just dont know what we have till we staart losing it/falling apart. I believe the good Lord created us to worship him, not put our bodies to shame, yeah we mentioned adam & eve and all.

. I see these young people , just not taking care of their bodies properly. so maybe I am a bit older than some of you, I have been around for some time now. I do enjoy watching these young people, some are quite pleasing to look on, be it male or female.

I thing theres a line to be drawn like I said modesty, moderation is the word, so we may see some skin ok, here is something to think about. say about 100 years ago, you just wouldnt dare show the ankle or the wrist or cleavage.

today they have gone to the extreme,

as for destroying our bodies? yes truer words were never said, I call them kids cause some are as old as my sons.

Love these young actors, technically adopted some, but to see them get into a scene that isn;t pleasing(not the right word) and when we destroy that , we are hurting ourselves with that, just wish they could kinda clean it up a bit is all, I love it when they don’t want to hold the hand and get this not jump into bed the first date! ok nuff said, off MY soap box!

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This reminds me of “Pride and Prejudice” the last movie with Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen. There is a scene, when he helps her into the waiting carriage and grabs her bare hand. Both are shocked by the feeling of touching each others bare hand. One of the best scenes :))

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You too, you like this movie? :grinning: I love this movie! After watching it, I bought her books and discovered a new passion for regency books! They were living so differently in aristocracy time!
Have you watched Bride & Prejudice? It’s a Bollywood musical version of Pride and Prejudice XD

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I also love Jane Austen, and have watched all available adaptations. There are very few that I liked (for instance Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thomson and Kate Winslet and TV mini-series Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and the Bollywood one is not one of them. Although I am also a Bollywood collector, with dozens of titles. That one was really lame.
To come back to the original topic, there is the equivalent of a shower scene in the Pride and Prejudice mini series. Colin Firth coming out of a lake dripping wet, the shirt clinging to his body (this in Bollywood is called the “wet sari look”. In an interview, he said the originally he was supposed to strip completely and dive into the lake in the nude, but since it was a TV series, the producers changed their mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasKmDr1yrA

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Same goes for “North and South”, a BBC adaptation of Elisabeth Gaskell’s novel. There Richard Armitage, after a long day at work, in the privacy of his home simply unbuttons his high stuffy collar. And we are left amazed.

https://gratianads90.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lordrafeimageisrichardarmitageasjohnthorntonin2004northshouthepi1-126mar2513ranetcropbrtshrphi-res.jpg

https://fanvideos.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/ns2-213.jpg

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I have watched the movie 3 times in the theatres and bought the DVD. Of course I have the long adaption with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I also love both of the recent versions of Sense and Sensibility, but I prefer the one with Emma Thompson.

Persuation is a great Movie and book, too. And I like both versions :slight_smile:

North and South is amazing. I can recommend “Under the Greenwood Three” from Thomas Hardy, although I’m not really a fan of this author.

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In the 1999s version of “Room with a view” you can find a funny scene, where the young lead takes a nude bath with his “brother-in-law” and the priest. They are playing around and start running around the pond. Guess what, the female lead (a wonderful Helena Bonham Carter) with her mother and the very prude aunt take a walk and found this hilarious scene. I was crying of laughter, when the mother screamed “Oh, look at them!! Oh, no, don’t look at them”.

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Oh yes, that was priceless!

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I don’t mind if it gets people to watch and support shows they might otherwise not watch.

Like Rome when it aired. There was a lot of nudity. Part of it was to make the point Rome was the opposite of puritanical but some of it didn’t fit with what we know for history… and it was plugged in there for the sexuality to get people to watch.

I think the viciousness of some viewers bothers me more. I see a lot of comments bashing actors and actresses for their looks because they prefer another character and I just can’t understand that.

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Adrian, thank you for your Morales :laughing:

But to be honest with you, just these shower scenes made me realize how different the Asian entertainment industry is in comparison to the West.

I guess it is simply the rule of Demand and Supply.
Western female stars have to reveal their flesh, because male fans are willing to pay for it. In the Asian world it is the other way around. All those hard working girls like to sigh over their Oppa’s on stage, and on screen, while Asian guys prefer to play a computer game.

So, all in all, I believe there is already a standard for what is done and shown, called The Gold Standard :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

If you like to stay crabby about this a little longer, please visit my Shower Scene List :wink:

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here in America, course its changing now, used to call it porn when “skin” was shown, and like one of you said, its the norm now, and sex sells.

I have only seen one movie with one of my favorite actors was not good, as for belittling actors & actresses, its their job, so I don’t complain about it.

I go on to the next movie or drama, the guy is a fantastic actor in my book and I will and have watched him in other dramas. so again I dont belittle them. hey they are still my"adopted kids" and love what they do.